Save Article

Sue Shellenbarger answers readers' questions

Q: You mentioned in a column on screaming bosses that verbal aggression tends to impair victims' working memory and performance. Could you provide more information?

—P.S., Heemstede, Netherlands

A: In four studies published last year in the Journal of Applied Psychology, participants were asked to read or listen to recordings of customers angrily berating customer-service representatives, then to imagine themselves in the workers' role. Those who heard angry attacks had a harder time...